Feb 17, 2008
Redding
Resident finds focus through stretching
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by Rachel Kirkpatrick
rkirkpatrick@thereddingpilot.com
For many years Redding resident Barbara Templeton was a triathlete, running, biking, swimming, and competing. The stress it caused her body was noticeable.
After sustaining injuries from running, she realized, “I was pushing myself too much.”
While living out in Laguna Beach, Calif. with her husband Jamie and daughter Wray, Ms. Templeton discovered yoga and realized she could achieve the same amount of focus often achieved through intense athletic activity.
“I went from this pushing, driving person, to a more relaxed, taking-care-of-myself kind of person,” Ms. Templeton described.
The new Redding resident is the author of the just released “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Stretching.” While it is not a book about yoga, there are aspects of the practice incorporated within it.
“You take time to move your body in different ways, ways that you’re not used to moving it so that you can bring your mind to your body. You notice areas that are tight,” said Ms. Templeton, adding this helps you decide how to exercise that day.
Born in the area and raised in Huntington, Ms. Templeton attended Southern Connecticut State University where she earned her degree in teaching special education. She would leave Connecticut for about 30 years, ending up in California. She later earned a master’s degree in preschool special education from Utah State University.
While in California she took a break from teaching in schools and decided she wanted to start practicing and teaching yoga.
“I noticed it was really helping me so much, and I wanted to be able to help other people,” she said.
Through a neighbor who was a literary agent, Ms. Templeton learned that the Penguin Group, a publishing firm, was looking for someone to write a new book on stretching based on the classic book written by Bob Anderson nearly 20 years ago called the Authoritative Stretching book. Barbara decided she wanted to write it and that her husband Jamie would illustrate it.
“We vied for the position other people were trying to get,” she said.
The book contains 11 chapters which cover everything from anatomy and elasticity to warm-up routines and head-to-toe stretches with specific focus on different parts of the body. It also includes instructions on how to customize stretching routines, and stretches to help sore or stiff areas of the body.
Other chapters focus on strengthening stretches, stretching for senior citizens as well as stretches “just for her,” designed to help symptoms related to menopause, pregnancy, PMS and stress.
“The number one reason for stretching is to check in with yourself and your body every day,” said Ms. Templeton, who practices yoga and stretching each morning and tries to find time each afternoon for a hike.
“Most often our attention is directed away from our bodies, and we’re pushing ourselves,” she said. “Most of us work very hard, and we tend to drive ourselves; we don’t pay attention to our bodies unless something happens, like we get sick, or feel a pain.”
“A lot of people, they’re so stressed that they go and work out at gyms, and they get injured,” she added. “It’s the mind aspect of it as well, because you take time out from the business of thinking all the time; you just spend some time breathing.”
The book is designed to “pick up and do,” she said. Readers are encouraged to move in and out of the stretches, and hold stretches for breaths, not seconds.
“When I wrote the book, they wanted it to be stretching, so I don’t talk about yoga. However, everything that I’ve learned, the bulk, is what I learned from my yoga teachers,” she said.
Ms. Templeton has used many of these techniques to help students focus in the classroom. She is currently substituting in area towns while working to earn her teacher certification. She often incorporates yoga into the classroom routine.
“What is so wonderful about it is the kids make comments after, like, ‘Oh, I feel so much calmer,’” she said. “These children need some outlets; a lot of kids do not really know how to pay attention.”
“I’m becoming known as the yoga sub,” she added.
She recently attended a special training class called Awareness and Concentration in Teaching at the Garrison Institute in New York, which helps teachers become more aware of their emotions while they’re teaching, and to be more centered and focused, she said. In fact, her senior thesis in college was on teacher stress.
“The way I look at is, teaching is really like a form of yoga. When I’m teaching, my mind is totally focused on what I’m doing, and the children, and the work; it’s very rewarding,” Ms. Templeton said. “I love kids so I want to be able to give what I’ve learned.”
Ms. Templeton is currently teaching yoga at the Wilton Family Y on Monday nights at 6:30 p.m. Additionally, she often hold semi-private consultations in her home for those looking to learn more about yoga. Appointments may be made by calling 938-4758, or by e-mailing her at barbara@breathingyoga.com.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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